Not That Far to Run (Relatively Speaking)
by KitKatt0430
Summary: At the end of what has been a pretty long, fairly awful day, Julian gets a surprise phone call. "Barry?" he demanded, voice sharp. If this was Cisco or Iris using Allen's phone again… "Hey, Julian." "Holy crap, it is you Allen." Julian stumbled over to the nearest piece of furniture he could sit on. Luckily, this was a chair. "Cisco did it. He got you out."


This can be read as pre-slash or gen. Mostly its just me missing Julian because the awkward little British porcupine was one of the good points of season 3. It just didn't seem fair that a brief mention is all he got in season 4.

 _ **Not That Far to Run (Relatively Speaking)**_

His mobile rang the very second Julian shut the door to his flat.

It was late – slightly after eight o'clock – and Julian had spent the drive home from work flipping back and forth on what he wanted for dinner. He was stuck between the options of ordering Chinese from the place down the street or using the leftover shredded beef from the night before to make nachos. He really didn't want to talk to anyone. His morning had been full of bad news and then he'd been called in to work despite having the day off.

Julian very nearly sent the call to voicemail without bothering to check the ID.

But… he did look because it was habit and… he nearly dropped his phone, fumbling to swipe the answer icon.

"Barry?" he demanded, voice sharp. If this was Cisco or Iris using Allen's phone again…

"Hey, Julian."

"Holy crap, it is you Allen." Julian stumbled over to the nearest piece of furniture he could sit on. Luckily, this was a chair. "Cisco did it. He got you out."

"Yeah. I'd have called you sooner, but I was, uh… not exactly myself at first." Barry let out a little huffing breath that Julian was pretty sure meant Allen was understating things. It'd be easier to know for sure if he could see the other man's face. "I don't really remember much of what happened between going into the Speed Force and Cisco bringing me back. Didn't even realize that it had been a few months at first, except… well, it takes more than a couple of days for someone to move from Central City to London."

"You missed me that quickly? I'd think you'd be grateful not to have me nagging about your tardiness at work," Julian teased automatically. "How a speedster can be as perpetually late as you are..."

"It's a mystery not even I can solve," Barry shot back with a laugh. Then, quieter, "Cisco told me there was a family emergency, but he was light on the details. Said it was your story to tell, so… is everything okay?"

"My, uh..." Julian hesitated and swallowed reflexively, his mind drifting back to that morning. "My mum has cancer. It's not… it's not looking good. She wasn't responding to the chemo, so this morning they started her on a different drug combo, but its..."

"I'm so sorry."

"I'm really glad your back. First good news of the day."

"I could always come by to visit," Barry offered. "Cheer you up in person."

"It's a long and expensive flight just to pop around to say 'hi'," Julian replied. It was sweet and such a very Allen thing to offer, but…

"Speedster, Julian. I can just run there. I mean, I once went all the way to Nanda Parbat and back in a night because nearly all of Team Arrow got kidnapped by assassins. So its not that far to run, relatively speaking. Especially not for a friend."

"I… I might just have to take you up on that offer, then," Julian choked out, feeling oddly touched and extremely wrung out.

Barry was silent a long moment, then said, "I'd head there now, but Iris would kill me if I up and disappeared not even twenty-four hours after I finally stopped speaking nonsense and drawing on the walls. But you sound…"

"Speaking nonsense?" Julian interrupted sharply. "Drawing on the walls?!"

"Um… so like I said, I wasn't really myself. I was… not really lucid. Iris intentionally put herself in danger with a samurai android – Cisco's calling it the Samuroid – to snap me out of it so I'd rescue her. Which.. her plan worked, obviously, but we're all kind of irritated with her for doing it anyway." Allen paused and then added, "the writing on the walls was all these complicated pictographs. Doesn't mean anything to me now, though I was apparently pretty obsessive about drawing it everywhere I could. Cisco tried translating some, but unless 'this house is bitchin' was a really important message..."

Julian snorted with amusement, feeling calmer now. "Trapped in the Speed Force with the potential to pick up on the secrets of the universe and instead you become an overly enthusiastic critic of interior design. Somehow, that truly suits you Allen."

"The snark is strong with this one," Barry intoned with a snicker.

They both went contemplatively quiet for a few moments after that, but the soft sound of Barry's breathing – barely audible over the phone's speaker – was strangely reassuring.

This was real. His friend was really there on the other end of the line.

Julian's stomach grumbled, however, reminding him that not only had he been dragged in to work on his day off, but he'd been forced to work late, too, finishing a tricky analysis for a key piece of evidence in a murder case. "I'm going to put you on speaker, alright? I just got home and I'm starving."

"What's for dinner?"

"It's looking more and more like leftovers turned into nachos," Julian told him, then pulled his mobile away from his ear to click on the speaker phone option. "There, still hear me fine?"

"Yes, I can hear you now." Barry laughed and it took Julian a moment to recognize the meme being referenced.

He rolled his eyes expressively even though Allen wasn't there to see him do it.

From there they just chatted about… nothing really. Nothing of consequence. Julian talked about his new job, Barry worried over whether or not he'd get quizzed hard by Captain Singh about his absence. They both mused on the likelihood that Captain Singh just liked trolling Barry while maintaining plausible deniability about the Flash. (Odds were definitely in favor of that scenario.) Barry complained about missing the latest season of Game of Thrones; Julian told him about the casting for the upcoming Good Omens series. ("If I get sucked back into the Speed Force again and miss that one, I might cry. And now I need to reread that." "Speed reading?" "Oh, no, not Good Omens. I'm savoring that one. Slow reading it is. Or normal speed, for you non speedster folks.")

Somehow, Barry convinced Julian (with very little effort) to stay on the phone during dinner even though it was rude to eat and converse on the phone at the same time. By that point, Barry had steered the conversation around to Julian's new flat, what it looked like, what floor it was on, where was it located…

"Is that near your parents?"

"Fairly near, yeah. They… they offered to let me stay with them, but it didn't feel quite right. We've reconciled fairly well since my return, which is mostly mum's doing, I just… some part of me still expects to see my sister walk out of her room. They finally packed up all her things and turned it into a guest room, but I just..."

"Find it hard to move on," Barry filled in quietly.

"Pretty much. Easier than it was the last time I was in London, though. Missing her doesn't hurt the way it used to." The spot in his heart that was just for his sister still ached at her loss and probably always would, but… it didn't hurt anymore. Not really. Not with the intensity that had allowed Savitar such easy control of him.

"I'm sorry, Julian," Barry said abruptly. "I know we never talked about it, but everything Savitar did was..."

"Not your fault," Julian interrupted quickly.

"Technically speaking, he was me. He was literally me. And he..."

"I know, Allen. Believe me, I know." At this point, Julian had more than plenty of time to process the whole Savitar was a version Barry thing. He'd done a pretty good job of coming to terms with it too. "So listen to me when I say, its not your fault. And for the things that were… Barry, I forgive you."

This time Barry was the one who sounded choked up. "Thank you, Julian."

They went quiet again, the heavy topic having killed their easy camaraderie.

"So… what are your new co-workers like?" Barry asked tentatively. "Any particularly obnoxious ones who might actually be super heroes in disguise?"

"Oh, god, I hope not. They're all rather impressed that I survived in Central City – honestly, the media makes the meta-criminal problem sound worse than it is; no one believes me when I tell them Starling's criminal population is far worse. Though I did tell them the Flash saved my life once; one of them wanted to know if I could identify the pigment and fabric type of your suit so that she could try narrowing your identity down via purchase orders."

Barry's laughter brought a wide grin to Julian's face.

"You'll have to warn me," the speedster managed, once he caught his breath, "if she ever decides to visit the states."

"You have my word." Julian let out a frustrated sigh as he checked the time. It was almost ten. "It's getting a little late here and I've got an early morning."

"Don't hesitate to call if you need someone to talk to or..."

"Yes, yes, I'll call," Julian cut Barry off with amusement. "Same goes for you, alright?"

"You got it."


End file.
